14 



THE OOLOGIST 



ume is a mechanically perfectly ar- 

 ranged book of 504 pages, illustrated 

 by 143 plates, half-tones, maps and re- 

 produced drawings, diagrams and a 

 number of splendidly executed colored 

 plates. 



It is divided into three general di- 

 visions. First a general description of 

 the trip, territory and methods and of 

 some of the rarer birds and animals 

 by William Beebe. Second, notes on 

 other birds and insects and fish by 

 Inness Hartley, and Third, notes on 

 the life, history of various South 

 American insects by Paul G. Howes, 

 added to which are Supplementary 

 chapters on the Hinterlands of Tropi- 

 cal Guiana by Walter G. White and a 

 chapter on Indian Charms by James G. 

 Rodway. Many of the chapters in this 

 volume are exceptionally interesting, 

 such as "The Naturalists of Bartica 

 District — The Jungle and its Life — 

 Bird Life of Bartica District — Method 

 of Research." 



Among the birds that are especially 

 treated and which are of unusual in- 

 terest is, "Life History of the Hoat- 

 zins — The Home of the Toucans — The 

 Ways of the Tinamou — Notes on the 

 development of the Jacana." An en- 

 tire chapter is devoted to Ornithologi- 

 cal discoveries. This volume is suited 

 both to the ordinary student whose 

 reading is confined to popular bird 

 books and to the finished student who 

 treats ornithology as a pure science. 

 It would be hard to invest money in 

 any volume that would give a nature 

 lover more pleasure. 



North American Fauna No. 42, Life 

 Zone Investigation in Wyoming by 

 Merrit Cary, published by the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, Bio- 

 logical Survey, October 3rd, 1917. 



This is an unusually attractive num- 

 ber of this serial and is based on an 

 investigation of the territory covered 



and is arranged along the lines that 

 the Editor believes are well nigh ideal 

 for this class of papers. It is profuse- 

 ly illustrated with half tones and con- 

 tains a zone map and subject list of 

 the Zoological and Botanical species 

 and sub-species found also arranged 

 according to their zonal habitat. Cary 

 is to be congratulated on this produc- 

 tion. 



A Sparrow Remedy 

 Although I have tried many ways to 

 destroy the English Sparrows, one of 

 the best methods that I have found is 

 by poisoning them. A good method of 

 doing this is as follows: 



To a thin mixture of flour and water 

 add % of an ounce of strychnine; then 

 mix this well with a quart of some 

 kind of grain, perfectly ground corn 

 or wheat, after the grain has been 

 thoroughly saturated with the mix- 

 ture spread it out and allow to dry. 

 Put it out where the sparrows can get 

 to it. This experiment was tried suc- 

 cessfully at my home. 



DeLoach Martin. 

 The winter season is the very best 

 time to poison English Sparrows. 



Editor. 



Mocking Bird Eggs. 



The eggs of the mocking bird seem 

 to vary very greatly in this county 

 (Harrison County, Texas). During the 

 last two years I have taken eight sets 

 of these eggs, of which six sets had 

 four eggs each, one three, and one 

 five. Most of these sets vary in size 

 and color. In the set of three the eggs 

 were very light and unusually large, 

 measuring 1.01x.80, 1.00x.80, 1.03x.82. 

 Another unusual set was a set of four 

 that were very small and heavily 

 marked. They measured .88x.75, .87x 

 .64, .87x.65, and .79x.60. 



A. D. Martin. 



